I made the Beans 'n' Greens Soup last night and my partner and I both really enjoyed it. It was really hearty and had a subtle sweetness to it, I guess from the molasses. Mine turned into more of a stew, though, so I ended up thinning it out with a cup or so of water when it was done.

Oh, and we also made DJ's Hummus Dressing to go on a side salad and that was really good as well. I didn't have oregano (ran out!) but used the nooch substitution mentioned and that worked nicely. The only thing I might want is a bit more red wine vinegar in mine next time, but I love really vinegary dressings.

I made the sweet potato chickpea pie with basil last week. It's more of a quiche than a pie but it was simple to make & very tasty. That's 3 out of 3 recipes which will definitely make a regular appearance in my diet.

I made the Vegveeta cheezy sauce for Irish Nachos. I mixed in the salsa and it was just perfection. Tots, Vegveeta, jalepenos, sour cream. I had made Vegveeta before, but I forgot how insanely easy/fast it is to make.

Every time I cook from one of Dreena's books, I think to myself: "That was easy. Why don't I use this book more." Last night, I made the macaroni and brocollini in a creamy walnut gravy. It's a baked macaroni casserole with a walnut based cream sauce. It came together really quickly. Less than an hour including dish washing time. It's for tonight, so I only snuck a little taste yesterday. It reminds me of something else, but I can't figure out what. Anyway, looking forward to dinner tonight.

Damn that tart is good. I had so much food on my plate yesterday that I didn't get to appreciate the taste of everything on there but today I had only that, veg, stuffing, potatoes and gravy and I got a better sense of it. It will definitely be a regular.

I ended up cutting up the lentil loaf and freezing it because I have far too much food. I could taste it yesterday in the dinner and it was quite good. It was so easy to make that it will probably be made again at some stage.

Damn that tart is good. I had so much food on my plate yesterday that I didn't get to appreciate the taste of everything on there but today I had only that, veg, stuffing, potatoes and gravy and I got a better sense of it. It will definitely be a regular.I ended up cutting up the lentil loaf and freezing it because I have far too much food. I could taste it yesterday in the dinner and it was quite good. It was so easy to make that it will probably be made again at some stage.

I know it is festival chickpea tart is SOOOO tasty isn't it. I totally love it. Hot, cold with veg on its own. Gorgeous! Was the lentil loaf easy to make? I might try that next.

I made the corn quinoa chowder casserole for dinner this evening. It came together so quick and tasted quite good. It could have done with more salt but I am doing my best to cut back on it so I had it as is. I opted for the cayenne pepper in it.

Just amazed at how quick everything has come together when cooking from this book. I will definitely be using it a lot more often.

So, I just sampled this book and found her voice in the intro super-annoying. Kind of chipper and smug combined. Are the recipes good enough to make up for that? I really want to add a book with more options to my cookbook shelf (so far I have Oh She Glows, Isa Does It, and a bunch of vegetarian books -- Deborah Madison, Mark Bittman, and various from Moosewood).

I think I'm a little spoiled, because I really like Isa, Angela, and Mark's style. I thought I would find Oh She Glows too woo-woo, but I kind of love her instead.

I didn't read the intro, and I tend to base my opinion of cookbooks on the actual recipes. I think Dreena's recipes are solid, and I always recommend them to new vegans as accessible without calling for a lot of exotic or expensive ingredients. She really knows how to combine flavors. I'm always making her recipes and being surprised at how delicious they are, because the ingredients seem so simple. So yes, I think it's worth keeping.

_________________But if one were to tickle Pluto, I suspect that it might very quietly laugh. - pandacookie

55k usd is like 4 cad or whatever equivalent in beavers you use on the island - joshua

Everything AP said. Dreena rolls out solid recipes that are super flavourful for the minimal amount of effort you have to put into them.

I also like that she is super generous with making suggestions for subbing out or omitting ingredients. I don't need to worry about soy/gluten/fat/whatever, but it's nice to have all your options spelled out for you if you ever need them.

So, I just sampled this book and found her voice in the intro super-annoying. Kind of chipper and smug combined. Are the recipes good enough to make up for that?

Give her a chance. Honestly, she's the very opposite of smug. This is my favorite book of hers, though I like them all. I've never had a dud recipe, and I've never needed to adjust the seasonings on any of her recipes (which is not the case with most other authors...why so many recipes end up in Blandsville, I'll never know). Dreena is a master at building layers of flavor.

The cocoa cookie dough balls are my new obsession. So decadent and so healthy. The cocoa flavor is rich and lovely. I might try to keep a batch of these in my fridge at all times for when a sweets craving hits!